By Omar Bah
Amid reports that Nawec is owing Senegalese energy giants, Senelec, D1 billion, human rights activist, Madi Jobarteh, has called on the National Assembly to compel the energy minister to produce the contract for parliamentary scrutiny.
Last week, while responding to parliamentary questions, Energy Minister Nani Juwara, disclosed that Nawec is owing Senelec CFA 10 billion in just three months.
“I think this contract is detrimental to national interest which is also mired in corruption. The claim that for just three months Nawec owes 1 billion dalasi to Senelec raises questions about the details of this contract. What does it cover? For how long? And what is currently being provided by Senelec? How many households should they supply as well as how many streetlights, industries and institutions are covered?” he quized.
He added that the government has refused to make the contract public thereby confirming that it is a fishy contract.
“As I noted, this contract does not support the country to build its own national capacity for electricity supply and the fact that the source is external means if there is a problem in Senegal then the Gambia also faces the same problem automatically. This is what is currently happening as there’s a technical problem in Senegal and so we are also facing power cuts as a result. But what did the contract say about that? Should Gambia suffer for what we did not cause?”
He added: “So I think every aspect of this contract is detrimental to the Gambia and I hope the National Assembly will look into it seriously. If the contract is found to be detrimental then concerned officials must be held to account. In fact, was the National Assembly consulted before Nawec enter into an international contract? The Constitution requires that the parliament approves international agreements. Was this done?”
Therefore, he added, citizens must demand transparency and accountability from the President. “It was him who promised to make electricity problems solved in the wake of the OccupyWestfield protest in 2017. It’s now more than seven years and things are just getting worse. So citizens must hold Barrow accountable for giving false information to the public. The time has come for citizens to protest indefinitely from Banjul to Basse to pressure the government to fix utility supply once and for all,” he stated, adding that the only reason this perennial issue remains is because public officials know they face no consequences for their corruption, inefficiency, incompetence and carelessness.
“This is why we are suffering. It must stop,” he added.
When contacted for comments, National Assembly member for Serekunda, Madi Ceesay, said the assembly has already requested for the contracts between Nawec, Senelec and Karpowership.
“Be assured that the National Assembly will do the necessary checks and balances to ensure that we get to the root of the matter,” he said.
